Life Of A Lily
by autumn midnights
Summary: Lily Luna Potter's life, told through a series of oneshots. No Lily pairings so far, although that may change eventually. Rating may also change at some point (to T, not M). Sixth: Roxanne tells Lily a secret.
1. secrets

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: This is going to be a collection of oneshots focusing on the life of Lily Luna Potter. They will all be connected and they will be in order, but this isn't a typical multi-chapter fic. Written for Long Jump in the 2012 Hogwarts Games on the HPFC forum.

* * *

Lily Luna Potter didn't have a whole lot of secrets. After all, in such a big family, it was difficult to keep things private from everyone else. But she had one major secret that she didn't dare tell anybody. She didn't want anybody to know this secret, this desire that she kept hidden from everybody. She hid it from her parents, her brothers, her cousins, her aunts, her uncles, and her grandparents. Nobody knew.

Nobody knew that Lily wanted to be in Slytherin.

She figured that she'd get in. She was sneaky, cunning, ambitious, and proud, and her blood was pure enough to allow entry. She knew these things about herself, and she knew that those were Slytherin traits. But it wasn't just that she wanted to be in Slytherin because she thought it was the house that best fit her personality.

No, she wanted to shock everyone. She wanted to see her family's reactions. Sure, her father tried to tell the others that Slytherin wasn't so bad - after all, Snape had been on their side all along, and he was a Slytherin. After all, Slughorn had fought in the Final Battle on their side, and he was a Slytherin. But not too many members of the family, except for perhaps Aunt Hermione and Aunt Fleur (the latter, who hadn't been taught at Hogwarts, had no House prejudices to begin with) really paid attention to what he said.

Lily wanted to keep this secret until her Sorting. No one would know. She would play down her Slytherin traits until that point, make everyone believe that she would of course be in one of the 'acceptable' Houses. Even that act alone was so Slytherin - she was being sly enough to conceal what she was truly like and where she wanted to be placed.

It would be an act of beautiful defiance, when the Sorting Hat called out "Slytherin!" and she happily went over to the house of serpents. She could picture James, Roxanne, and Fred practically starting a riot.

She eagerly anticipated the day that she would finally reveal her Slytherin nature. It was a secret for now. But eventually, it wouldn't be.


	2. hopes and dreams

Disclaimer: Yeah, if I owned Harry Potter I would be a billionaire living in a mansion. Sadly, that's not even close to true.

A/N: This is written for the 2012 Hogwarts Games, second round of Long Jump, on the HPFC forum. The theme given was Childhood Dreams, and all of us had to write a fic based on that which was also compliant with/related to the fic written for the first round.

* * *

Lily knocked on the classroom door. She knew that Professor MacDougal always marked essays in the DADA classroom as opposed to the office; apparently, not all students knew where the professors' offices were, and this made her more accessible if someone needed to talk. Lily had never felt the need to talk to a professor outside of class before, but this was different.

"Come in."

She pushed the door open and stepped inside, letting it drift close behind her. Professor MacDougal was sitting behind the desk, frowning at an essay and holding her quill above it. She quickly set it down and looked up at Lily, who was standing there, patiently waiting - for once in her life. "Professor," Lily said quietly, "can I talk to you?"

"Of course," Professor MacDougal replied, smoothing her brown hair back. "What is it?"

"Well..." Lily took a deep breath, absentmindedly fidgeting with the Slytherin tie that hung from her neck. She had achieved her childhood dream of being Sorted into Slytherin - and being the only Weasley-Potter to do so - but now she had a bigger dream, one that would require a lot more work put into it. "I was wondering, Professor, what classes someone would need to become an Auror?" Professor MacDougal was the best person to ask - she had been an Auror for a while before coming to Hogwarts to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, but you need at least five NEWTs to be considered, so you'd need at least one more class as well," said Professor MacDougal, looking over her stack of essays at Lily.

Lily was happy with her response. She could safely assume that many of the other teachers would have said something along the lines of 'Oh, don't worry about that now, you're only in second year', which would have annoyed her. Yes, she was only in second year, and yes, she only was thirteen, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have an idea of what she wanted to do after Hogwarts. She had her dream - now that she had achieved being a Slytherin, she wanted to become an Auror. "Thanks," she said. "And out of the electives, which is useful?" She ran through them in her head - Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies.

"Hmm." Professor MacDougal looked pensive. "Ancient Runes can be useful, because there might be old documents written in runes that need translation. Care of Magical Creatures can be useful as well, because sometimes dealing with Dark wizards involves dealing with Dark creatures. Muggle Studies - there have been times Aurors need to go out into the Muggle world. Arithmancy would be completely useless for being an Auror, and so would Divination, but that doesn't mean you couldn't choose one of them. The only courses you're required to have for being an Auror are the four I mentioned, plus at least one other NEWT-level class."

"Do you think..." Lily let the sentence trail off, looking at the floor. "Do you think I could be an Auror? I mean, I haven't heard of a whole lot of Slytherin Aurors, and Molly keeps saying that I'm too much of a troublemaker to get into the Auror program."

"You don't have to have a spotless school record." Professor MacDougal shook her head. "Look at your dad, and all the things he did while he was in school." The teacher chuckled. "All that matters is that you don't actually break the law. School rules don't matter as much to the Auror Department as they used to, since they realized they were missing out on some fine Aurors that way. And as far as Slytherin Aurors - well, of course there's not as many. A lot of Slytherins aren't interested. But it's not completely impossible, and there are several Slytherins in the Auror force that I've worked with."

Lily perked up. Well, that was good - she didn't have to be a Little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes like Dominique to get into the Auror force, and the fact that she was in Slytherin didn't even matter. "Do you think I'd make a good Auror?"

"Probably," the professor answered. "If you continue doing well in Defense Against the Dark Arts and your other subjects, you'd probably be accepted, no problem."

"You really think so?" Lily couldn't stop a smile from making its way across her face as her teacher nodded. Her dream of becoming an Auror may have been just that - a childhood dream - at this time, but eventually, it would come true.


	3. final goodbyes

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. And I never will._

_Note: Written for the 2012 Hogwarts Games, final round of the Long Jump event. I had to incorporate the theme of 'final goodbyes'. Also written for Creatures Of Hogwarts Competition, 'Dragon' category (write about a redhead)._

* * *

Lily stepped out of the Slytherin common room, looking at Roxanne. The older girl looked like she had just been crying, and Lily's heart skipped a beat. "What's wrong? Mina sent me out here - she said you were looking for me."

"Oh, Merlin, Lily," Roxanne said, wiping her eyes. "I can't be the one to tell you this." She enfolded Lily in her arms, pulling the smaller girl closer to her. Roxanne's strong, warm embrace was comforting, but Lily still didn't know what was going on. She disentangled herself from her cousin, looking up at her, and waiting impatiently for the news. Her heart was beating fast - Roxanne didn't cry easily, so it had to be something big. Someone had to be dead. Was it her dad? Her mum? Aunt Hermione? Uncle Ron?

"Aunt Audrey..." Roxanne trembled, her fingers flying up to fidget with her Gryffindor scarf. "Lily, there was an attack on the _Daily __Prophet's _headquarters. Seven people were killed, and...and she was one of them. We're all going home after supper tonight for the memorial service tomorrow morning. The Headmistress gave us permission."

A tear slowly fell down Lily's cheek. It was impossible to imagine her aunt dead. Aunt Audrey was so full of life, so bubbly and fun and talkative, that it was unimaginable to think that she was no longer alive. Her mind instantly flashed back to the last time she had seen her aunt, at the train station to return to Hogwarts after Christmas holidays. Aunt Audrey had been there, in the crowd of Weasley-Potters making their way through King's Cross. They had all been there; even the four who had graduated already - Teddy, Freddie, Victoire, and Dominique - had accompanied the rest of the family.

Lily recalled over Christmas holidays, how Aunt Audrey had bought her a beautiful Slytherin wall hanging for her bedroom at home. She seemed to be the only adult who actually embraced Lily's Sorting, as opposed to the others, who accepted it but didn't encourage anything about it. Lily had been so happy, and she had instantly run upstairs to her room to hang it up.

More tears flowed freely from her eyes. This was the first death in the family since Uncle Fred, and Lily hadn't even been born then, so she never missed him or grieved for him like the adults did. Nobody she had known and loved had ever died. The closest she had come was when Mina's older sister, sixteen-year-old Jana Francis, killed herself. Lily had met Jana a few times, and she had been sad when Jana died for two reasons: Jana was young, and Mina was sad. But there had never been anything like this before - never a family member, never...

Roxanne pulled Lily close to her again, and this time Lily didn't attempt to extricate herself. It hurt to think that Lily had never truly said a final goodbye to her aunt - sure, she had waved from the train, yelling goodbyes out the window to all the Weasley-Potter adults standing there, but she didn't count that. She couldn't imagine a world without Aunt Audrey's fun personality, her bubbly laughter... "Oh, Roxanne," Lily whispered, her voice breaking, "who did this? Merlin, who could do this?"

"The Aurors are working on it," Roxanne explained, stroking Lily's hair. "The person just b-barged in and killed people, then left, and no one's sure what he looks like because he had a mask on."

"They better f-find him," Lily said, wiping her eyes furiously. "They better find him and throw him in Azkaban for the rest of his fu-"

"I know." Roxanne's voice was quiet as she cut off Lily's swear. "They'll find him - the Auror Department is talented. There's no way someone can get away with doing something like that."

Lily swallowed, hoping that Roxanne was right.

* * *

Lily took a deep breath, staring at the grave marked with 'Audrey Maria Weasley', the birth and death dates marked below it. The grave held no body; whatever curse the killer had used completely destroyed her aunt's body, to the point where there was nothing for the family to bury. It had been two months since her death in April, and now Lily, her brothers, and her cousins were home for the summer.

"I wish you didn't die," Lily said softly, sadly, her voice the only noise in an otherwise-quiet area. "I-I miss you. And the Aurors haven't found who killed you, but they have to - I would find him myself if I wasn't thirteen. I wish I was older. Then I could be an Auror, and I could help them track down your killer." She shook her head, staring at the ground, and finally sat down, ignoring the slight dampness of the grass from last night's rain. "I don't know what to do. Molly and Lucy aren't doing well. Molly's acting worse than James, and Lucy holes herself up in her room and doesn't talk to anybody."

She picked a blade of grass, letting it sit on her hand for a second before the gentle breeze blew it away. "I wish that you were here, Aunt. And it's not just me - we all miss you. And I hate that I never said a real goodbye to you. I hate that I never had a long conversation with you. I guess this is just my way of saying a final goodbye to you. I don't know." Lily leaned against the grave. "I loved you. Even though I didn't say it all the time, I did. I loved that you were happy with my Sorting, instead of just accepting it because there was no choice. And I loved how you just made the whole house, wherever you went, bright and happy and...you, I guess."

A bird began to chirp, from where it was perched on a tree branch right above Lily, and she jumped slightly before rising to her feet. "I don't know if I'll be able to come here again soon. All the adults have begun keeping really close tabs on us. They're worried we'll do something stupid. Molly would. If I'm not back...well, I mean, I doubt you can even hear me right now. But if you can, I love you, and...I guess this is goodbye."


	4. snow and presents

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

_Author's Note: Updating twice in one day? Wow, that's rare for me! Anyway, this is for the One Character Competition on HPFC. My character is Lily Luna Potter. I have to write a drabble using one of the following prompts: snow, shiver, hot chocolate, fireplace, gingerbread, snowball fight, present, silver, mistletoe, mittens, and freezing. I used both 'snow' and 'present' (well, 'presents')_

* * *

Lily rolled over and glanced at the watch sitting on her bedside table. Ten o'clock in the morning. It felt strange to be waking up so late on Christmas morning, especially when she recalled her younger days, waking the whole house at six because she couldn't wait to open presents. She wondered if James and Al were up yet, or if they also had prized sleeping in over the opportunity to get gifts early in the morning.

Putting the watch onto her wrist, she slid out of bed, padding silently over to the window and looking out into the backyard. It was covered in a few inches of snow, untouched and pristine; it must have happened overnight. "A white Christmas," she whispered, a soft smile making its way onto her face. It looked beautiful, and Lily stood there for a moment, simply looking out the window.

She finally turned around, leaving her bedroom to find the rest of her family. It was Christmas morning after all, and it was getting late. Even now, as a third year who tried not to act as childish as James did sometimes, the familiar Christmastime excitement had returned, and she couldn't wait to start the day.


	5. used

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine. Unfortunately._

_Author's Note: Written for the One Character Competition (in which I had to show a certain emotion - I chose 'used' - in a no-dialogue, over-500-word fic), the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Competition (Ton-Tongue Toffee event, in which I had to write a fic with no dialogue), Harry Potter Spells Competition (Langlock event, no dialogue), Honeydukes Competition (Treacle Fudge event, no dialogue) and the Stretch Your Limits Competition, Round Five, Easy (Write a next-gen fic)._

_Not counting the author's note, this fic is 808 words._

* * *

Lily took a deep breath, stepping into the dormitory that she shared with the other Slytherin fourth-year girls. She shut the door behind her, harder than she had intended, as tears pricked the back of her eyes. She blinked furiously in an attempt to stop them from falling, even though she was alone and no one would see her anyway. But Lily Luna Potter did not cry, or have any intentions of starting to do so.

She sat down heavily on her bed, moving a Slytherin scarf to the other side so that she didn't wrinkle it by sitting on top of it. She couldn't decide whether she was sad about what had happened or furious with Cassidy Morrison. Usually, when Lily had negative feelings toward someone, she started planning a clever campaign of revenge that certainly would not point to her, but this time, she didn't even have the slightest idea.

Cassidy Morrison was a seventh-year Ravenclaw. Seventh-year Ravenclaws rarely paid attention to Lily, but Cassidy had approached her in the library one day and offered to help with Lily's Herbology, which she had been working on at the time. Since Lily was terrible at the subject, she accepted, and the two girls had begun hanging out in the library consistently, even going to Hogsmeade as friends a few times. Lily was still at the age where she and her dorm-mates thought it to be extremely cool that a seventh year was paying attention to her, and she reveled in the attention that they gave her for it.

Everything was going smoothly - until Lily invited Cassidy over her house for Christmas holidays, and Cassidy met James. They were in the same year, so they vaguely knew one another, but they had never talked very much before that point. Once they met one another, they instantly clicked, and began dating as soon as they returned to Hogwarts. A couple days after Cassidy and James had officially become a couple, Lily approached Cassidy to ask if they could meet in the library that day.

Cassidy hadn't just said no. She had rolled her eyes and admitted what she had done - gotten close to Lily in hopes of being able to hang out with James. That was bad enough, but she hadn't stopped there; she had called Lily a stupid, foolish little girl, and it was at that point that Lily had swore at her and retreated to the safety of her dormitory.

There had never been a situation like this in Lily's life before. She had counted herself lucky that her dorm-mates were completely uninterested in her famous family, and instead were friends with Lily because they wanted to be. This was her first time dealing with someone like Cassidy, and it certainly wasn't pleasant. Once again, she blinked back tears, balling her hands up into fists. It was tempting to storm out of the dormitory and out of the common room, to hunt Cassidy down wherever she happened to be and hex her into oblivion. Lily knew she was certainly capable of doing so; she had looked at enough books on hexes, jinxes, and minor curses, and she now had a small arsenal at her fingertips.

It would feel wonderful to do such a thing, she was sure. Almost every part of her brain was screaming for her to get back at Cassidy somehow, do something horrible to her in return for what she had done to Lily. It wouldn't be the first time that Lily had done something vengeful; she had planned pranks on enough people who had teased her or someone she was close to.

A small part of her, though, wondered if she really should. It wouldn't be difficult for Cassidy to figure out Lily was behind whatever revenge occurred, even if Lily was careful not to implicate herself. Cassidy was intelligent - she wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing - and she would assume that Lily did it to get back at her. The conclusion would then follow in Cassidy's mind that Lily was angry or sad about what had happened.

Wouldn't that mean Cassidy had won?

Lily sighed heavily. If she did absolutely nothing to Cassidy, and acted like she was completely fine, not hurt at all...was that a better idea? She flopped onto her back, staring upwards, contemplating her choices. She could plan something more elaborate than she had ever done before, or she could go on as though nothing had happened, as if Cassidy had meant nothing to Lily, just as Lily meant nothing to Cassidy.

She was having a difficult time deciding between them, and resolved to give it more time, to think things through in more space than just several minutes. This wasn't something that would just go away; she had time, and she would use it.


	6. courage and confessions

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter._

_Written for the Yellow Rose Bowl: A Friendship Competition, where I chose the pair Lily & Roxanne and got the quote of 'A friend is someone who knows you, and loves you just the same'. This is also written for the HeadCanon Boot Camp Challenge, with the prompt 'Room of Requirement', the One Character Competition (I had the quote 'Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen' to incorporate into the fic, as well as choosing from the prompts 'maybe', 'tree', and 'suddenly' - I chose 'suddenly'.)__, and the Wand Wood Competition (Yew - write about someone bold/outgoing, which is Roxanne, and arguably Lily, although she's more bold than outgoing)._

* * *

Lily sighed, looking down at the open book in front of her. She was trying to study her Herbology book, which was a struggle, since the author of this particular book seemed to attempt making the subject boring on purpose - but it just wasn't working for her. Her finger idly traced the carved 'LLP' on the table, which she had just done last week when nobody was around. On the other side of the table, the letters 'RAW' - Roxanne Angelina Weasley - were engraved, from when Roxanne and Lily had sat there together just a few days before, both attempting to study, both finally deciding that chatting with the other was more enjoyable.

That was usually the final result when Lily and Roxanne tried to study together. Although there was a three-year age difference between the girls, they were close friends; Roxanne was the same age as James, and had often ended up over the Potters' when she was young to play with him. When Lily was old enough, she joined in, and from then on they had been extremely close, even when Roxanne went to Hogwarts, even when Lily followed a few years later and was sorted into Slytherin.

She finally set the book down, unable to concentrate on it - it was, after all, terribly boring. Standing up, she slipped it in her bag and made her way out of the library, idly walking up a few flights of stairs, not doing much of anything. She had nowhere that she needed to be, nothing that she needed to do - it was lovely, actually, to just wander around aimlessly, walking through the castle's corridors on her own time, not when she was rushing from class to class. Hogwarts was an astounding place, and as she was about to make a resolution to do this more, someone suddenly grabbed her arm from behind.

Lily jumped, whirling around, only to see that it was Roxanne, standing there looking amused. "Jumpy, Lils?"

"Don't call me that," Lily said. "Besides, you grabbed my arm - you should have just tapped me, or something more normal. What's up, Roxie?"

Roxanne made a face. "Well, don't call me that either. And I'd like to talk to you in private, if you don't mind."

Shrugging, Lily followed the other girl to a corridor in the seventh floor. Roxanne paced back and forth in front of a blank stretch of wall, and Lily watched as the door to the Room of Requirement - which she had heard about but never really explored - appeared in front of them. Roxanne pulled it open, holding it so that Lily could enter.

The Room of Requirement was arranged like a small parlour; two comfortable armchairs were arranged to face one another in front of a fireplace, which actually had flames coming out of it. There was a little round table between the two chairs, on which a Wizarding radio was set, playing music at a level soft enough that Lily imagined they could talk without having to raise their voices. It was a cozy room, and Lily glanced over at Roxanne as the other girl entered the room. "Did you come up with this -" she gestured to the surroundings -"yourself?"

"Pretty much," Roxanne said. "This place is brilliant." She threw herself down in one of her chairs, folding her tall body into it and then swinging her legs over the arm. Lily sat down on the opposite one, watching Roxanne, who seemed pensive, as if she was thinking how to best say whatever it was she wanted to say to Lily.

"I should come here more often." Lily glanced around the room. "I mean, if this can become whatever I want...the things I could do with this," she mused, already imagining the possible ways that the room could be used in playing pranks on James and Al.

Roxanne smiled at Lily's comment, but her expression turned more serious quickly. "I wanted to tell you something," she said. If it had been anyone else, Lily would have responded with a sarcastic comment like 'Obviously, since you brought me in here', but since it was Roxanne, she refrained. "You're the first person I'm telling this to. I wanted to see what you'd say - how you'd react."

"Tell me," Lily said, pulling her feet up onto the chair, bringing her knees to her chest like a young child. "Did you hex James into oblivion? Because I must say, I wouldn't mind if you had."

"No, I didn't hex your brother - usually, I leave that job up to you. No, I...it's more major than that. I..." She paused again, and shook her head as if to clear it. "I should just say it," she muttered to herself, and then, more loudly, she said, "I fancy girls. Not blokes."

There was a moment of silence. Lily mulled the idea over in her head - she supposed, to some extent, it made sense. Roxanne never showed much interest in boys, unlike many of the other girls at Hogwarts, and she was probably one of the very few seventh year girls who had never dated one of the boys. "All right," Lily said. "You do realize that it doesn't matter to me whether you fancy girls or blokes or the Giant Squid, right? Because we're cousins and friends and really, Roxie, I'd never think of you differently because of that." She grinned mischievously. "So who's your current crush?"

Roxanne looked down at her lap; Lily was sure that if Roxanne had fair, freckled skin like she did, the older girl would be blushing completely at that point. She had the expression of someone whose cheeks were warm from embarrassment, and she, for once, looked a little shy as she glanced over at Lily. "Er," the dark-haired girl said. "Promise you won't tell anybody?"

"I promise," Lily said, vague plans forming in her mind on how to get Roxanne together with the object of her affections without telling anybody. She was sure that she could do it; nobody could scheme and plan like Lily Luna Potter. "Now, tell me."

"Alex." Roxanne's voice was actually soft and quiet, a rarity for the usually-loud Gryffindor girl.

"Alexandra Volante? Your best friend?" Lily's voice rose, and Roxanne glanced towards the door, as if someone was going to come bursting in, or as if someone could hear them through the walls. "Aw," Lily continued. "Best friends falling in love is really cute. You should totally get together with her."

Roxanne narrowed her eyes. "I know you, Lily Potter, and I know that face. That face means you have one of your scheme-y, plan things, and they've ended in disaster more times than I can count -"

"My plans," Lily said, "only end in disaster when I involve other people, who don't have the same planning abilities as I do. Anyway, I don't come up with a plan in five minutes, so no, I don't 'have one of my scheme-y, plan things', I'm in the middle of coming up with one. Big difference."

"Is it?"

"Yeah."

There was another brief pause, and then Roxanne said, "So you really don't care? I mean, it doesn't matter to you that I'm a lesbian?"

"Why on earth would it matter to me?" Lily asked. "Merlin, Roxanne. We're not only family, but we're friends, and that means that we're close even though we know each other inside and out - we know each other's little secrets, but we still love each other. That's what friends are for - someone who knows you, and still loves you and thinks you're awesome. And I do think you're awesome...even though you're a Gryffindor," she added, the same mischievous, playful smile returning to her face.

Roxanne rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "You," she declared, "are a brat. Seriously, though, thank you - I doubt everybody would have reacted the same way you did."

"It's nice that you trust me," Lily said idly, twisting a strand of scarlet hair around her finger. "If I had a secret like that...I don't know who I would be able to tell besides you."

"I'd be there for you," Roxanne said. "You were here for me, after all - you listened to me. Not everyone listens," she said wistfully. "In Gryffindor Tower, sometimes it seems like everything's about being loud and crazy. Everything's about, I don't know, daring each other to do stupid things, or just doing stupid things for the fun of it. We all stand up and speak over each other about nothing that's really important. I could probably come out in the middle of the Gryffindor common room and no one would really pay attention - they'd probably all figure that it was a dare or something. Merlin, sometimes it seems like no one actually listens - they hear, but they don't listen. And sometimes, I think it takes more courage to listen."

"I think that's the wisest thing I've ever heard you say. Did the Sorting Hat consider putting you in Ravenclaw?" Lily couldn't resist, and Roxanne laughed. "Really, though, I get what you mean. I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me something like this."

"I'll always trust you," Roxanne said. "After all, that's what friends do."


	7. first love

_Written fo rthe One Character Competition ( I used 'frown', 'pause', 'busy', 'touch', 'new', and 'meaningful', out of the prompts given to me) and the As Strong As We Are United Competition._

* * *

Lily stood outside of the Three Broomsticks, a frown creeping across her face. Demetri had said that he would be there at two o'clock, and it was now fifteen minutes past. Usually, Lily wasn't one to be impatient with people being late - after all, she was usually the late one - but this was different. It was the first time that she was going to Hogsmeade with somebody on a date, and she wanted it to go well.

She hadn't told anybody; she knew her cousins and siblings would either tease her or become overprotective, and she didn't particularly want to see either reaction. It was easier this way; at some point, she'd tell them. Just not now. She glanced at her watch again, and was tempted to leave, but something made her pause. A few minutes later, she was glad that she had stayed; Demetri came dashing up, out of breath, with a bag in his hand.

"What happened to you?" she asked, glancing down at the bag.

Demetri handed it to her. "I bought you a few things. The stores were so busy, though - it's like the whole student population of Hogwarts is here at Hogsmeade."

Lily couldn't help but chuckle. "Well...most of them." She opened the bag, pulling out a small box of her favorite Honeydukes chocolate. It was highly tempting to eat it then and there, but she refrained from doing so. Slipping it back into the bag, she surveyed the other gift - a box of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes fireworks. Lily already had some, of course, but it was always wonderful to have extra prank supplies.

She laid her free hand on Demetri's arm; he looked vaguely surprised, but pleased, at her touch. "Thank you," she said, smiling up at him. In a way, the gifts were meaningful, despite being simple; they showed that Demetri knew what Lily liked, and these gifts made Lily happier than something fancier probably would have. She slung the bag over her shoulder and took his hand, leading him into the Three Broomsticks.

In the back of her mind, she knew that this was her first relationship, and it probably wouldn't end up lasting. Still, though, she wanted to enjoy it while it lasted, feel that beautiful emotion of new romance, and loving someone in that way for the first time.


End file.
